ICI: Fund Assets Up in April

April’s increase comes after a 0.03% decrease in
March (See
ICI: Fund Asset Totals Dropped Again in
March
).
Overall, four out of the six mutual fund asset
categories showed positive cash infusions, with only money
market funds recording net outflows, according to data from
the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Stock funds were the biggest gainers for the month,
recording an inflow of $16.10 billion, compared with an
outflow of $276 million in March.
Among the components of this category,
domestic equity funds gained $12.52 billion in April
and stock funds that invest overseas had a $3.58-billion
inflow.

Also reversing course for stock funds was the
percentage of total liquid assets that was up to 5% in
April from a revised 4.7% in January.
Comparatively, April 2002 posted 5.3% of liquid assets in
stock mutual funds.

The other asset gains for the month were posted by
hybrid funds, taxable bond funds and municipal bond
funds.
Hybrid funds were up 6.6%, or $2.71 billion, in
April.
Likewise, taxable bond funds had an inflow of $25.10
billion, or 2.9%; and municipal bond funds gained $2.10
billion, or 0.6%, for the month.

However, money market funds were unable to retain
their holdings, as investors pulled out cash to cover tax
liabilities.
Overall, the category
had an outflow of $53.7 billion in April, compared
with an outflow of $32.3 billion in March. Funds offered
primarily to institutions had an outflow of $23.84 billion,
while funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow
of $29.86 billion for the month.

Fund Tabulation

Overall, the total number of mutual funds again showed
very little gain, up to 8,242 from a revised March total of
8,223. Funds were gained in all categories except
stock funds, which lost 10 funds from its rolls.
The big gain in April was seen in taxable bond funds, which
added 12.
Other gains were fairly even, with municipal bond funds
gaining six, hybrid funds adding five and both money market
categories accumulating three apiece.